1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stamp unit provided with a holder which is vertically slidably disposed in a skirt member and retains a stamp material in the lower side and a grip member which is disposed above the holder and moves it downward, and more particularly to a stamp unit capable of readily and surely setting a holder to a predetermined position in a storage part of a stamp manufacturing device for making a stamp from a stamp material held in the holder, and capable of correctly detecting the existence and the type of the holder set to the predetermined position in the storage part.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, the stamp unit of various types has been proposed. Focusing attention on a manufacturing process of a stamp to be used in the stamp unit, one type of the stamp unit is disclosed in Japanese patent application No. Hei 9-249983 which was filed by the present applicant. This stamp unit comprises a grip, a holder, and a skirt member. The holder is connected with the grip so that the holder is vertically movable within the skirt member, and a stamp forming material is disposed in a lower side of the holder.
In the stamp unit, the stamp forming material has a two-layer configuration comprised of an upper layer made of porous hard resin and a lower layer made of porous soft resin in which optical energy absorbing material, such as carbon black, etc., is dispersed. To produce this stamp forming material by means of a stamp manufacturing device, at first, while a part of rolled-up transparent film is drawn out and fed from the roll, characters and figures are printed on the film to form a positive manuscript. This positive manuscript is then brought onto a transparent acrylic plate. Subsequently, the stamp unit integrally constituted of the holder, the grip, and the skirt member is set to a predetermined position in the stamp manufacturing device so that the lower layer of the stamp forming material faces to the manuscript. In such the state, when a xenon tube disposed below the transparent acrylic plate is driven to emit light, the lower layer of the stamp forming material is irradiated with the light through the positive manuscript. The part of the lower layer irradiated with light at sites corresponding to the transparent portion of the manuscript is then fused due to heating effect of the optical absorbing material of the lower layer, and solidified. On the other hand, the part of the lower layer corresponding to the characters and the like on the manuscript is not fused-solidified and remains as it is, thus forming a stamping surface on a lower face of the stamp forming material. To print characters and the like with the stamp unit, the stamping surface of the stamp forming material is applied with ink from the outside such that the ink is saturated into the stamp forming material from the non-fused-solidified portion of the stamping surface, forming characters and the like, and the stamp unit is placed at a desired position on a printing sheet. Upon push of the grip of the stamp unit, the ink saturated in the stamp forming material is caused to ooze through the non-fused-solidified portion onto the printing sheet, and the ink adheres thereto, printing the desired characters and the like.
Meanwhile, the prior art stamp unit is set to a predetermined position in the stamp manufacturing device by engaging a projection formed on the stamp unit with a cutout formed in a stamp making part of the device. For detection of the size of the stamp unit, there is provided a slid volume mounted on an angular C-letter-shaped member in an open/close door. Using the slide volume of which electrical resistance varies as the position of the open/close door, the output of the current from the slide volume is detected, whereby to detect the size of the stamp unit.
The projection of the stamp unit and the cutout of the stamp making part are configured to have less play therebetween and to inherently correspond to each other in shape. To position the stamp unit at a predetermined position by the engagement between the projection and the cutout as mentioned above, the projection has to be properly fitted in the cutout. However, such the proper engagement between the projection and the cutout requires a long time. Unless the proper engagement between the projection and the cutout, the electrical resistance of the slid volume will not correspond to the stamp unit size. Consequently, there may occur a problem of error-detection of the stamp unit size.
To make a lower surface of the stamp forming material disposed below the holder into a stamping surface, the whole stamp unit that is integrally formed of the holder, the grip, and the skirt member is set in the stamp manufacturing device. For this purpose, the stamp manufacturing device needs providing a storage part in which the whole stamp unit can be held and also the space in which other members are to be mounted. Accordingly, the stamp manufacturing device will inevitably become large in size, thereby causing the increase of cost.
For providing a correct and complete stamping surface on a lower surface of the stamp forming material, the stamp unit has to be precisely set to a predetermined position in the stamp manufacturing device. Such the setting of the stamp unit in the stamp manufacturing device requires to provide a projection serving as a positioning mark for the stamp unit. Since the skirt member of the stamp unit is exposed to the outside of the stamp manufacturing device, the positioning projection formed on the skirt member may spoil the appearance of the entire stamp unit, or demerits in design remarkably appear. In this regard, for example, the holder being disposed inside of the skirt member is invisible from the outside, so that there is no problem if the positioning projection serving as a positioning reference or mark is provided to the holder.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and has an object to overcome the above problems and to provide a stamp unit capable of readily and surely setting a holder to a predetermined position in a storage part of a stamp manufacturing device to produce a stamp from a stamp material held in the holder, and capable of accurately detecting the existence of the holder in the storage part when the holder is set to the predetermined position, as well as the type of the holder.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a stamp unit which is reduced in cost due to a compact-sized stamp manufacturing device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a stamp unit of which a stamping surface can be produced in a state where the holder holds a stamp material therein, so that a positioning portion may be formed on the holder, not on a skirt member, thus maintaining the appearance of the stamp unit.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the purpose of the invention, there is provided a stamp unit comprising a skirt member, a holder member disposed vertically slidably in the skirt member, a stamp member held at a lower end of the holder member, and a grip member disposed above the holder member, for moving the holder member downward, wherein the stamp unit is set in a stamp manufacturing device while the holder member holds the stamp member and, after manufacture of a stamp from the stamp member by means of the stamp manufacturing device, the holder member is then disposed slidably in the skirt member, the stamp unit further comprising a storage part for holding the holder member, the storage part being provided in the stamp manufacturing device, a positioning projection formed on one side of the storage part, a detection switch for detecting existence and type of the holder member, the detection switch including at least two switches disposed close to the positioning projection in the storage part, a positioning recess formed on a side wall of the holder member, the recess having sloped surfaces which provide a cam effect in cooperation with the positioning projection, and positioning the holder member in the storage part due to the cam effect, and activation and inactivation sections lo formed in the holder member close to the positioning recess, the sections causing the detection switches to selectively turn on or off in a state that the holder member is positioned in the storage part by cooperation between the positioning projection and the positioning recess.
In the above stamp unit, when the holder is set in the stamp manufacturing device, a cam effect is generated between the positioning projection formed on one side of the storage part of the stamp manufacturing device and the positioning recess formed on the side wall of the holder. The positioning projection is guided in the recess due to the cam effect, so that the holder is positioned in the storage part by cooperation between the projection and the recess. In this manner, when the holder is positioned in the storage part by cooperation of the projection and the recess, the detection switch disposed adjacent to the projection of the storage part is selectively turned on and off through the activation and inactivation sections provided near the positioning recess of the holder. According to the selective ON/OFF state of the detection switch, the existence and the type of the holder used in the stamp unit are detected.
Accordingly, even if the holder is placed in the storage part of the stamp manufacturing device, the positioning projection is guided in the positioning recess due to the cam effect. This enables the simple and reliable setting of the holder to a predetermined position in the storage part. With the holder set to the predetermined position, the detection switch is selectively turned on and off through the activation and inactivation sections provided near the positioning recess of the holder. This makes it possible to accurately detect the existence and the type of the holder used in the stamp unit.
Since the holder having the stamp material is set in the stamp manufacturing device to produce a stamping surface, the stamp manufacturing device can be reduced in size as compared with the case where the whole stamp unit is set in the stamp manufacturing device. In addition, the stamping surface is formed on the stamp material held in the holder, so that the positioning portion can be formed on the holder and not the skirt member. The holder being disposed inside of the skirt member is invisible from the outside and thus maintains the appearance of the stamp unit.